Rapid growth can be a double-edged sword. More clients and work means more employees and the need to review processes that may no longer fit. Learn how automation and integration helped a growing agency lower operating costs, improve efficiencies and reduce risk of human error.

Client Profile: Digital Marketing Agency, 54 employees

Challenges: Lack of transparency and actionable insights; Inefficient and slow processes; Manual processes resulted in increased human error.

Advantage Solutions: Easy time entry and interactive dashboards allows real-time tracking. Various reports can be run by Account Managers, giving them ownership in results.

Outcome: Integrated tools automate and streamline processes and reduce risk of human error; New report capabilities provide the transparency and confidence to grow existing clients; Replacing multiple tools and applications with a single platform lowered operations costs.

The Agency Story

As the agency grew, managers implemented tools and applications to support specific needs. They used several different programs for accounting, media planning/buying, time-entry and project management. This presented challenges for many processes because manual entry was required for important workflows such as billing. Gathering data for reports that displayed the full picture of the agency was also difficult and time-consuming. Multiple tools and applications also cost more than a single platform.

Although employees were entering time which could be viewed, they could not do anything with it, such as track client profitability. This resulted in inefficiencies, so they hired a consultant to review and recommend solutions. The consultant recommended consolidating with a single agency management platform.

During implementation, they discovered more areas with room for improvement and automation.  Switching from spreadsheets to an integrated media planning feature saved many hours and reduced the risk of errors. Orders and billing records could now be generated directly from media plans, saving hours of time by eliminating the need for manual entry. Managing digital campaigns had also been done manually, which was a tedious process. By leveraging the Digital Campaign Manager, media teams could actualize and roll forward balances faster than ever. Automation transformed the agency's entire media planning and buying process to a more streamlined workflow that better suited a larger team.

Employees had been entering time by using an isolated application. Implementing an integrated time entry feature enhanced reporting capabilities because management could now see how many hours were spent on each client or campaign. With actionable insights from employee time data, the full picture of client profitability was possible.

The Advantage agency management system is an all-in-one solution purpose-built for agencies and creative teams of all sizes.

We’ve been exclusively focused on helping our clients maximize productivity, efficiency and profitability for over 40 years, with almost a thousand agencies counting on us to help run their business every day.

Find out how Advantage can help you by contacting us for a complimentary demo or discussion about your unique needs.